Convertible armchair

ABSTRACT

A convertible armchair has a framed seat to which the front and back legs, back and footrest are hinged, as well as rods which form a deformable parallelogram with them. An adjustable length telescopic rod is connected to the parallelogram and seat frame to form a second parallelogram with a common side with the first, through hinged gussets and a yoke. The telescopic rod has a cylindrical stop fixed on its male part so as to be guided and received in slots in the female part to set various positions of the back relative to the footrest. A handle is hinged on the female part and has a roller on its lower face arranged to act through a slot in the female part and push down the male part against a spring to release the stop from the slot and move to another slot for another position of the armchair. Additional front legs and a friction system to adjust the effort required may also be provided.

United States Patent Rene Ramillon 3, rue Emile Zola. Grenoble, France 809,172

Mar. 21, 1969 [45] Patented Aug. 3, 1971 [32] Priority Apr. 17, 1968 [33] France [72] Inventor [2!] Appl. No. [221 Filed [54] CONVERTIBLE ARMCHAIR 7 Claims, 11 Drawing Figs.

Lorenz Primary Examiner- Bobby R, Gay Assistant Examiner-James C. Mitchell France Attorney Young & Thompson ABSTRACT: A convertible armchair has a framed seat to which the front and back legs, back and footrest are hinged, as well as rods which form a deformable parallelogram with them. An adjustable length telescopic rod is connected to the parallelogram and seat frame to form a second parallelogram with a common side with the first, through hinged gussets and a yoke. The telescopic rod has a cylindrical stop fixed on its male part so as to be guided and received in slots in the female part to set various positions of the back relative to the footrest. A handle is hinged on the female part and has a roller on its lower face arranged to act through a slot in the female part and push down the male part against a spring to release the stop from the slot and move to another slot for another position of the armchair. Additional front legs and a friction system to adjust the effort required may also be provided.

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saw u [If 4 FIG/1'1 INVENIOR RENE IPA/Mu. 4 0M BY nw i am ATTORNEYS CONVERTIBLE ARMCHAIR The present. invention relates to convertible armchairs which can occupy, in addition to the armchair position and through inclination of the back and of the footrest, various positions of relaxation.

In this type of armchair, the inclination of the footrest is generally necessarily connected, by rods with that of the back, so that making the position of one or the other of these elements vary, the user alters his position of relaxation, without however modifying the position of the back with respect to that of the footrest; the possibilities of such armchairs are therefore limited.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an armchair: of whichtheback, although inclining at the same time as the footrest, can be tilted moreor less than the latter, as a function ofthe wishes ofthe user and this up to'occupying a substantially horizontal position.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description which follows,

According to the invention, this armchair is of the type constituted by a seat to the frame ofwhich are hinged respectively the front and back legs, the back, the footrest and rods which, in combination with the seat, the back and the armrests, define a deformable parallelogram which possesses withit a common side, and ofwhich one of the sides is constituted by a telescopic rod, adjustable at will by the'user, and'of which the increase or the decrease in length acts directly on the inclination of the footrest without in anyway influencing that ofthe back, this telescopic rod being-providedwith immobilizing means for variouspositions of the footrestwith respect to-the back.

Due to this arrangement, the: user can, at any moment, change hisposition of repose bygiving to the armchair very varied positions. He can, from a given position of the back and I of thefootrest either modify their position with respect to the ground by leaningmore or less heavily on one or other of these elements, or modify their relative angular position due to the arrangement of theabove-describedtelescopic rods: the force. necessary. for the modification of the position of the armchair with respect totheground'may beadjusted by two handles located on oppositesides of the:armchair.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, there is described. below a preferred embodiment of a convertible armchair according to the invention, purely by way of illustrative but nonlimitingexample, with reference to the accompanyingschematic drawings in which:

H08. 1, 2, 3,4. and s show various positions which can be adopted, among others, by the said embodiment;

F lG..6 illustrates the passage fromione of these positions to another;

FIGS. 7, 8, 9 and l'show various positions of the telescopic rod each corresponding to a differentposition of the back with respect to its footrest; and

FIG. 11 is a view on an enlarged scale of the telescopic rod and ofthe hingedelernents to which it is attached.

The embodiment of the convertible armchair shown in the drawing, is constituted principally, as illustrated by FIGS. 1,2, 3, 4 and5, by a frame 2 on which are hinged, at its back part,

by means of hinged shoulder brackets or gussets 3, the metallic frame'constituting the back legs, and the frame of the back 5.

At each of its front ends, the frame 2: receives, on the one hand, the ends of the metallic frame constituting the front legs 6 and hinged on'itby 'means of gussets7, and on the other hand, a coupling member or yoke 8 having a transverse section substantially in a U, hinged at 9'to the frame 2 and at 10 to the maleelement 12 of a telescopic rodxl3. At 10 is also hinged the. metallic. frame forming the footrest 14, which is supported, on'thecentral part of the yoke 8, so as to follow the movementsof thelatter, which movements are imposed on it by the element: 1.2 of the telescopicsrod 13, while retaining for it the possibilitylof being folded back atany time on the frame 2, thus transforming the armchair into a chair with a tilting back.

The female part or sleeve ll of the telescopic link 13 is hinged at 15 on a gusset 16, itself hinged at 17 on the frame 2 and rigidly attached to a rod l8 hinged throughits other end at 19 to the front part of the armrest 20 of which the back end is hinged at 22 to the back 5. As is seen, the hinged elements of this armchair constitute, on each side, two deformable parallelograms connected through a common side, in this instance the hinged gusset 16, one of these parallelograms being constituted by the lower part of the back 5, the armrest 20, the rod 18 rigidly attached to the gusset l6 and the frame 2, the second parallelogram being composed by the gusset 16, by the telescopic rod 13, and by the yoke 8 of the front part of the frame 2,

Under these conditions, it is easily understood that any effort of the user tending to make the back 5 pivot in the direction of the arrow 23 of FIG. 4, will draw by the same reason, and in the direction of the arrow 24 of the same Figure, the armrest 20, the rod 18 and due to the gusset 16, the telescopic rod 13 which will cause the yoke 8 to pivot in the direction of the arrow 25 of the FIG. 4 and consequently cause the footrest 14 to rise along the same arrow 25. Inversely, any force exerted on the footrest 14, in the reverse direction to the arrow 25, will displace the back 5 in the reverse direction to the arrow 23.

Furthermore, the user can, at any moment, the footrest being for example stationary, incline more or less the back 5 with respect to the footrest. In fact, it suffices for him for this to press a handle 26, hinged at 27 on the sleeve 11 of the telescopic link 13 and provided, under its lower face with a roller 28'intended to penetrate a slot 29 formed on the upper part of the sleeve 11 so as to push back, as shown in FIG. 6, the rod 12 and, consequently, to extract a cylindrical stop 30, which is rigidly fixed to it, from the slot 32, 33, or 34in which it is positioned. The stop 30 is then brought, by the action of the user on the back 5, into another slot of the sleeve 11, thus modifying the length of the telescopic rod 13. The back 5 has there fore been easily inclined more or less with respect to the footrest 14, since the latter has remained stationary.

' This new position ofthe armchair does not exclude however the possibility of obtaining, starting from this position and by acting on the back 5 or on the footrest 14, as has been mentioned previously. A plurality of positions of these two elements with respect to the ground.

An-opening 35 formed in the sleeve 11 and forming a continuation to the slots 32, 33, 34, enables the back to be brought substantially into prolongation of the footrest 14; the armchair then being in a substantially horizontal position, called bed" position.

Advantageously, the sleeve 11 comprises, on its lower part, a spring 36 maintaining against the male rod 12 a constant pressure, tending to press it against the upper part of the sleeve 11, eliminating any risk of inadvertent disengagement of the stop 30.

The invention provides moreover, hinged at 37 on the frame 2, a metallic frame constituting other front legs 38, smaller than those 6 and thus enabling to further advantage an increase ofthe number of positions ofthis armchair with respect to the ground, by using as desired one or other of these front legs 6 and 38.

Advantageously, the effort to be applied on the back 5 or on the footrest 14 to obtain a change :in the position of the armchair, may be proportioned more or less, through a friction system, so as to adapt this effort to the wishes of the user.

As goes without saying, and as emerges besides already from that which precedes, the invention is not limited in any way to the single embodiment which has been described above; on the contrary various changes and modifications may be made of it without departing from the essential concept of the invention, as defined in scope by the appended claims.

lclaim:

v l..A convertible armchair having a seat and a back and armrests and front and rear legs and a footrest, the armchair hav- I side of the armchair including the seat and back and one armrest, the second quadrilateral linkage on each side of the armchair having one side that swings with the footrest and another side that is common to said first quadrilateral linkage and a third side which is adjustable as to length, and means for adjusting said third side of said second quadrilateral linkage as to length thereby to alter the swinging relationship between the back and footrest.

2. An armchair as claimed in claim 1, said seat constituting one of the sides of said second linkage and said third side of said second linkage being disposed opposite said seat.

3. "An armchair as claimed in claim 1, one side of said first linkage comprising an upright member supporting the forward end of the associated armrest, said upright member constituting said common side and being pivotally interconnected with said third side of said second linkage intermediate the length of said upright member.

4. An armchair as claimed in claim 1, said adjusting means comprising means for selectively releasably retaining said third side in any of a plurality of predetermined lengthwise ad- 5 justed positions.

5. An armchair as claimed in claim 4, said third side of said second linkage comprising a pair of relatively telescoping members one of which carries a pin and the other of which carries a plurality of slots in which said pin is selectively receivable to adjust said third side to different lengths.

6. An armchair as claimed in claim 5, said adjusting means comprising a handle depressible to release said pin from a said slot to permit adjustment of the length of said third side and entry of said pin into a different said slot corresponding to the adjusted length of said third side.

7. An armchair as claimed in claim 1, and further front legs on said armchair enabling variations of the position of the armchair with respect to the ground. 

1. A convertible armchair having a seat and a back and armrests and front and rear legs and a footrest, the armchair having first and second articulated quadrilateral linkages on each side of the armchair, the first quadrilateral linkage on each side of the armchair including the seat and back and one armrest, the second quadrilateral linkage on each side of the armchair having one side that swings with the footrest and another side that is common to said first quadrilateral linkage and a third side which is adjustable as to length, and means for adjusting said third side of said second quadrilateral linkage as to length thereby to alter the swinging relationship between the back and footrest.
 2. An armchair as claimed in claim 1, said seat constituting one of the sides of said second linkage and said third side of said second linkage being disposed opposite said seat.
 3. An armchair as claimed in claim 1, one side of said first linkage comprising an upright member supporting the forward end of the associated armrest, said upright member constituting said common side and being pivotally interconnected with said third side of said second linkage intermediate the length of said upright member.
 4. An armchair as claimed in claim 1, said adjusting means comprising means for selectively releasably retaining said third side in any of a plurality of predetermined lengthwise adjusted positions.
 5. An armchair as claimed in claim 4, said third side of said second linkage comprising a pair of relatively telescoping members one of which carries a pin and the other of which carries a plurality of slots in which said pin is selectively receivable to adjust said third side to different lengths.
 6. An armchair as claimed in claim 5, said adjusting means comprising a handle depressible to release said pin from a said slot to permit adjustment of the length of said third side and entry of said pin into a different said slot corresponding to the adjusted length of said third side.
 7. An armchair as claimed in claim 1, and further front legs on said armchair enabling variations of the position of the armchair with respect to the ground. 